The Next Evolution in Super Hero Drama with Purpose, No Pads required. No purpose? No Entry!

Angry Rants, Part The First! Meet The Citizens!

Welcome! Welcome to the first installment of the Angry Citizens web feature here on The Outhouse. A brief history of the Angry Citizens and then a quick chat with the creative team will follow each page and update. So with that said, let's get to it. I'm J.M. Hunter the co-creator and writer of the Angry Citizens or what I like to refer to as A.C., Angry Citz, or those damn comics that wont write themselves!! Also with me are Christopher Rice, the co-creator of Angry Citizens and creator/artist of The Angry Gods. We also have the artist of the page you see above Mr. Shannon Hall!

J.M.: So let's start with you Christopher. While I eventually came up with the name, The Ideal, you actually created this character more than a decade ago right? If I'm not mistaken, you originally created the two characters with the intention of adding heroic iconic elements that stem from the many generations of comic readers consciousness. What can you tell us about those early days when you came up with the two main characters The Ideal and the Cynic?

Christopher: High school. I was coming into my own. My occupation of choice would have been super hero. The Ideal was who I thought the perfect super hero would be. He had strength, courage, convictions, and a set of bad ass wings.

The cynic came a couple of years later as I got some street experiences that made me realize the world didn't really live in the Ideal's world. When The Cynic came along he was a the ideal foil for The Ideal.

JM: Shannon, next question is for you. So you got the gig drawing 2 parts of the Angry Citizens, and you had like a small window of time to get 'er done. Can you take us through your process when you get a script?

Shannon: "First off, I wanted to tell you how much I have enjoyed working with you and Christopher. I had a blast doing this with you guys and I hope I did you guys proud. Its nice to work with people who genuinely have fun doing comics as I do. Thanks guys!

Now back to the question...

I'm sure my process isn't much different than most. I like to sketch out the characters first to kind of get comfortable with drawing them. Then, I read the panel descriptions and do several thumbnails of each panel at different vantage points. Next, I decide which angles look the best and put it all together. I normally do my final page layouts as small as possible. To give you an idea of how small, think business card size. I like laying out my pages that small because (for me) it forces me to only put what is necessary into each panel. I find that this also helps keep my panels from getting convoluted, makes panels easier to read, and speeds up the process....speed is very important."

Follow up question. Walk us through this first page.

Shannon: From your description, Hunter, I created a city scene of "Pristine Falls" with Ideal looking over the city. I'm not sure how close I came to the description, but I remember it being said that it was a modern city with a waterfall in the center of it. The villain is called Wielder and he is a very theatrical over the top type of character so of course he would bow when he introduces himself. Wielder is levitating several citizens as he tries to go off on a rant. One of the citizens tries to speak his mind but Wielder is not a fan of free speech. So, the citizen gets hurled off into the air for his efforts. I got to do some "Kirby Crackle" on this one.

JM: Ok, next question is for both of you. Who are your artistic influences and did you find that any of them made their way into this project?

Christopher: John Byrne started comics for me. From there Frazetta, Vallejo, and Rockwell. Nowadays I can find inspiration in any artist. Humberto Rramos and Scott Morse have influenced me with a looser approach to the page. Sean Galloway too. But I didn't draw much for this book. Byrne and Ramos show in the designs I did for the Ideal. Neal Adams and John Buscema taught me how musculature and dynamics work in comics Then there's Ben Caldwell who taught me to simplify and finally the late, great Will Eisner taught me the story is important.

(Hunter says: You're damn right, story is important...and dammit you just listed all of my influences...no fair!).

Shannon: I guess you could say I'm stuck in the 90's when everything was EXTREME! -- Jim Lee, Todd Mcfarlane, Mark Slyvestri, Rob Liefeld, Whilce Portacio, Mike Mignola, JR, Jr. have all influenced me. For the second half of that question....I wish! Maybe one day."

JM: Christopher I pretty much know what your next projects are. You working with me on the 31 Days of Halloween and a couple of Horror/Sci-Fi Anthology projects. I got you down on lock biatch! Mwahahahaha! But thank you nonetheless.

Now, Shannon you've got a few projects going right now don't you? Anything you'd like to mention or share with us and the audience?

Shannon: Thanks to Ron Fortier and Rob Davis, I did the cover and interior illustrations for a book called Lance Star: Sky Ranger Vol.3 which is out and can be purchased at:

I am also working on interior illos for the next Mars McCoy book and a comic book (yet to be announced) all with the same company, Airship27 productions. That, plus a LOT of creator owned stuff that I'm hoping to pitch at the first of the year."

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About the Author - Royal Nonesuch

As Senior Media Correspondent (which may be a made-up title), Royal Nonesuch tends to spearhead a lot of film and television content on The Outhouse. He's still a very active participant in the comic book section of the site, though. Nonesuch writes reviews of film, television, and comics, and conducts interviews for the site as well. You can reach out to him on Twitter or with Email.